Can Democrats shed some new light on the Epstein files when they take over?

One of the key issues Democrats brought up against the Trump administration and the Republican Party in this month’s midterm elections was how they had handled the investigation into convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. United States President Donald Trump had pledged to release troves of files on Epstein gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal agencies when he was campaigning for president in 2024.

But after taking office, Trump administration officials were accused of thwarting efforts to bring transparency to the issue, and Trump himself publicly rebuked the handful of Republican lawmakers who sided with Democrats to force declassification of what federal investigators had uncovered over the years. Some of those lawmakers even lost their seats after Trump withdrew his support and backed primary opponents.

Now, Democratic lawmakers, who will control a majority in both the House and Senate beginning in January, say they plan to use legislative powers to confront the Trump administration on Epstein.